NU volleyball counting on solid passing to defeat Longhorns

Before losing to Texas A&M on Wednesday, Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook said he was happy with his team's recent serving improvement.

Cook added that the only way his Cornhuskers would beat Texas this Saturday would be through a solid passing game, one that would kick the Longhorns on their heels.

"We're going to have to keep them from getting in system," Cook said. "That's part of their Achilles' heel. They're not a great passing and ball handling team."

The Huskers came stumbling back from College Station, where poor serving was key to the team's third loss of the season. After the match, Cook said NU had plenty of things to improve upon in order to return to its winning ways.

"We work on serving every day," Cook said. "The only way you're going to beat Texas is you're going to have to serve them well, and you're going to have to be able to side out."

After an impressive serving performance against Texas Tech, Megan Pendergast has been called on to boost the Huskers' play from the baseline.

Cook knows the true freshman defensive specialist needs to improve the rest of her game, but the advantage she provides as a server would be too great to pass up.

"We're going to use her this week," Cook said. "You've got to serve these guys tough, and she's got a chance to run points. We've got to break out her jumper."

Pendergast said serving at the college level has added new challenges, most of which force her to focus more on the accuracy of her serves instead of simply hammering them over the net.

"It's not a routine where you just try to put the ball on the court," Pendergast said. "You have to hit the corners."

Both Pendergast and Cook said the Big 12 Conference has become tougher over the years. However, hosting Texas has consistently been good to Cook and his Huskers – NU hasn't lost a match at home to the Longhorns with Cook at the helm.

Texas comes to Lincoln ranked second in the country with a perfect 7-0 record.

"It's tough. Every team's good, and everybody wants to win early on," Pendergast said.

"Just because one team is 0-2 doesn't mean that they can't win out and do great things. Everybody wants to win, and everybody can win."

Cook knows one positive will come from Saturday's match: His team will gain big-game experience.

"They're going to give us great opportunities to really figure things out," Cook said. "We can't let a free ball drop, you can't overpass a ball, and you can't miss two serves in a row. These teams, you do that, and you're going to pay for it."

davehoufek@dailynebraskan.com